I was recently in Paris visiting with expat clients and had the opportunity to attend a dinner that reminded me of the “closed door dinners” I attended years ago in Buenos Aires. If you’re ever in Paris, I highly recommend trying the Twenty Two Club located in the Palais-Royal. Currently, Twenty Two Club is open for reservations on Friday and Saturday nights for one 8pm seating. The dining room overlooks the Palais-Royal and holds roughly 15 people at one table.
What makes Twenty Two Club unique
We all know how restaurants work: a business location, you pay for your food, you probably don’t know most of the diners in the room, and the room has multiple tables. And, we all know dinner parties: a private location, your food is provided by the host, you know some or most of the diners, and the room has one table. A closed door dinner takes some of the characteristics of a restaurant and some of the characteristics of a dinner party and melds them into a unique experience that is popular in Buenos Aires, Rome, Paris, etc.
We arrived at Twenty Two Club on Saturday night, got a quick introduction to the other guests, and began mingling. Paris Fashion Week starts this week, and we met one model with her Louis Vuitton designer boyfriend, a gal from South Africa and her friend, a retired Disney exec and her husband, an expat couple from central California who had moved to Paris only a month ago, a Bay area couple who “keep a home in Paris”, and a few other people.
An experience you won’t forget
Dinner was several courses of wonderful, locally sourced food from the restaurant owners Laura Adrian and Braden Perkins’ farm, which is an hour or so outside of Paris. Between courses, Laura and Braden provided ongoing, informative banter about the vegetables, meats, wine, honey, sauces, etc. that we were eating. The room was candlelit, and the 12ft windows overlooking the interior of Palais Royal were open, letting the night air in. The conversation, ambiance, and intimacy were nothing like you’d find at a restaurant, and the topics were at times similar to what I’d imagine the expat authors of the 1920s discussed over coffee at Les Deux Magots.
If you are socially adventurous and want an excellent meal with interesting people while in Paris, I’d highly recommend you try to get a reservation at Twenty Two Club. It is a unique venue with wonderful food, captivating hosts, and lively conversation that will make your Paris stay memorable.
